~ Fireblade

Category Archives: CHASSIS

Waiting on some information from MNR so i can progress at the rear of the car, so decided to take a look at fitting the bulkhead panels in the engine bay. I anticipate i’ll be fitting the fuseboxes and other bits and pieces to this. Started off with some blank Aluminium sheet.

Then i marked out the outline i needed for the top chassis hoop and started to cut. I used an air nibbler for the main cuts and a smaller angle grinder blade on a dremmel for the smaller parts. Continue reading →

I have seen a few other builders do this so i borrowed the idea from Dave’s (KnobbyMNR) very impressive blog and decided to do the same.

Ordered a couple of sheets of 2mm Aluminium Chequer plate, and then did the usual template, measure, cut , fit and rivet. Finally i added a rubber strip to the front edge to ensure nothing sharp in the driver space.

Decided these were a good starting point and looked fairly straight forward in the scheme of things. As it turns out, they are, just fiddly ensuing you squeeze all the washers in place and line everything up.

I’d recommend you get a round file and clean out all the mounting points on the chassis as i found they were all a bit tight.

After that i started with the first shock ( for orientation the shock resistance adjuster is positioned at the bottom ) and bolted it to the center bracket on the chassis, making sure it didn’t foul my brake lines

Another part of the build where the old adage Measure Twice cut ( or drill in this case) once applies. This needs to line up just right or it either won’t be useable when driving or it will be uncomfortable.

Started with the pedal box assembly

And then removed the two brake cylinders ( front and rear) so I could access the main pedal box frame

and then aligned the box in the chassis so I could check it provided sufficient clearance for my feet ( first sit in the car 🙂

Once that was done I marked up where to drill onto the newly fitted bulkhead for the 6 securing bolts and where I will need to drill through with my hole cutter for re-fitting the brake cylinders. After marking up drilled the 6 mounting holes and then used a hole saw to cut out the two clearances for the front and rear brake servos.

Once that was done I marked holes to drill on the feet of the pedal box brackets on the work bench and made the 5 bolt holes as needed for fitting.

Figured the process should be a bit easier as I have done it once, but on the drivers side the panel supplied needs to be cut in half so that it fits in the space between the chassis rails. So out with the saw to cut in half.

Measured up the lower panel, as before marked where the chassis would be, drilled pilot holes every inch and half, mounted with clamps to chassis and drilled holes ready to rivet.

Finally, back out with the rivet gun to fix it securely in place. As you can see below, once it was fixed, started the process again with the upper panel, which needed a few bits taken out of it to fit under the top chassis bars.

Okay, so this was going to be a one part summary, but it turns out it has taken me a bit longer than I expected so today I only managed to get one side done. Memo to self – I am rubbish at bodywork !

Anyway step one was to take the supplied panels and trim them so they fit within the space on the bulkhead on the near and offside. They all needed quite a bit of cutting and grinding to fit around the round-bar, and this isn’t my forte so it was slow progress.

Once that was done I needed to cut a hole in the nearside panel to allow for one of the engine mount points to be accessible.

Once the hole was added ( and I made it a bit larger to allow for the welds next to the mount joint, I was able to offer it up to the chassis and make sure it fitted ok.

I used a few clamps to hold it in place and then marked the position of the frame from behind and then measured a mid point so I knew where to drill and hopefully hit the middle of the chassis bars.

Once it was measured up I drilled 3.2mm holes every 1.5″ then used a 10mm bit to de-burr the holes.

I then offered it back up to the chassis and marked again and then drilled the holes into the chassis ready to rivet.